by John B. Carnett: Photo by John B. Carnett

Reinvent Your Xbox

Cost: $35
Time: 1
Hour
Easy | | | | |
Hard

Although the sleek new Xbox 360 is all the rage with gaming geeks these days, that chunky old first-gen Xbox has something the 360 doesn´t: a legacy of hacks that give it a life beyond gaming, including the ability to take that episode of The Office you just downloaded and stream it to the flat-screen in front of your sofa.

Fortunately, unleashing your Xbox´s hidden talents no longer requires soldering skills or Linux savvy. Since we first wrote about modding the console, in May 2004 [â€Let Your Xbox Looseâ€], hackers have devised programs known as softmod installers that make unlocking the box a simple â€click Next†process anyone can follow. Once complete, you can copy dozens of applications, including Xbox Media
Center (XBMC), from your computer.

The free XBMC gives you what´s called a 10-foot interface, which you can navigate from your couch with a standard Xbox controller. In addition to playing audio and video files (including your iTunes library) from the Xbox´s hard drive or any computer in your home, XBMC can display digital photos, weather forecasts, even RSS feeds. It supports more movie and music formats than Microsoft´s Media Center
Edition OS, and you can customize its appearance. There are several XBMC tutorials online, but the easiest one I found is
at productwiki.com.

Overview:
(For Detailed Instructions, see the next page)

1. Buy an Action Replay memory device ($30) and an original copy of the game Mech Assault ($3â€6). Both are available at most used-game stores.
2. Download Krayzie´s Ndure Softmod Installer and the latest version of XBMC (both free) from torrentspy.com.
3. Use the Action Replay device to copy the softmod installer to your Xbox.
4. Insert Mech Assault, choose â€Run Linux,†and follow the onscreen instructions to install an alternative operating system on your Xbox. (You may need to update your Xbox´s software first.)
5. Plug your modified Xbox into your home network, and use FlashFXP (free trial; inicom.net) to copy XBMC, as well as movies, music and photos, to your Xbox.